The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-01-06
FORTUNES By LUCK.
WALL STREET MEN FREQUENTLY
GET RICH By PURE ACCIDENT.


4 Broker Tells the Story Of . Remark
able Case-How . Crazy Freak Made .
Fortune for >Peculator-Another
Case.
A well known broker of Wall street was
chatting a few days ago with some friends,
and somewhat surprised them by asserting
that luck has had more to do with the max
ing of sudden and immense fortunes in the
street than is commonly supposed He re-
ferred for one example to his own experience,
and said that twice he had found himself
&l0DO0 or more better of at night than be
was in the morning, and had at once realized,
although when he went down to the street
that day he had idea of making such a
comfortable sum. Three times by sheer ac-
cident. for which he was not to blame, he had
lost a pretty little fortune, and he believed
that his own experience could be matched by
very many of the spectators Of the street.
OF course he excepted those great operators
who. from their control Of immense amounts
of cash, from their ownership of controlling
interests in large properties, and their ability
to manipulate the market. were placed be
yond the power of lucky or unincky accident
to affect greatly their wealth.
..PerhalS the most remarkable case that
ever came under my observation" the broker
went ON To say. was that OF one OF the most
conservative men now on The street. He Is
now simply a broker, and since Black Friday
has never specula ted one dollars worth You
remember that three four men brought on
the panic now known as Black Friday by
cornering gold and running the price up II!
many operators We're ned, the street was
i'm a wild panic, and universal smash seemed
imminent. These men relied OH what they
believed 10 he good assurance that the gov
eminent would put no gold on the market
that day and they had locked up pretty
much all the rest of the gold in the country
that available.
LOST HIS HEAD.
Right in the midst of the panic, when the
street was like madhouse, and many men
who, in the morning, supposed themselves
rich We're almost stark staring mad over the
ruin which had befallen them IN a few hours,
and when almost the highest figures had been
touched and nobody was selling short, this
broker t. whom | refer suddenly lost his
head He had covered early in the morning
at "A coruparativeiy small loss, and had been
looking in during the day without any per
soma anxiety except that caused by the fear
of q panic that would knock the bottom out
of everything. Suddenly, he never knew
why nor has he any but the most vague rec
olIe,.tion of the tran>actiosI. he rushed into
the hawIin2 howlng pit and sold right and
left at their highest figures. He probably
might have avoided his contracts or his
friends have invalidated them for him, for he
was undoubtedly insane when he did this.
At all events he was still selling when sud
denly there came that little message from
Secretary Boutwell, that knocked the bottom
out of the corner in the twinkling of an eye,
Sell 5,Uo,O0 of gold.
In half an hour more my friend would
have been "A lunatic pauper, and, as IL was,
his brother. | think, or some near relative,
found him utterly irresponsible, and with a
COOL deal of difficulty led him away to his
Office. There, when he was told of the order
Of Bout well and that the bottom had dropped
out Of the panic. he did not seem to compre-
bend the truth at all, but mumbled some
thing which nobody understood. His con-
tracts, however, were found and taken care
of by his clerks. and a rapid estimate showed
that he stood to the good not far from $50
OOO When they told him he did not Seem to
co,nprehend He had not been drinking, for
he was a teetotaler. Suddenly they missed
him They could not find him in the street,
nor i'm the gold room, nor in any Of the other
brokers Offices he was accustomed TO visit.
Nobody had seen him. He had not gone to
his home and his family at midnight, becom-
that he WAS missing and temporarily de
ranged. He WAS found wandering up Broad
way long past midnight, muttering his calls
aud recognizing no one. Nor did he know
any one for nearly two weeks. He was on
the verge of paralysis of the brain, and bare
ly pulled through When after two weeks
illness he woke one morning rational his first
thought was that he WAS on Change. He re
membered nothing of his operations, but re
4 L.. -.
he had witnessed before he began to operate
himself. Ii was "a long time before his physi-
clan permitted him to be told that he had by
his crazy freak made fortune. He has kept
it, too, for from that day to this. as j said, he
has never bought a stock except for invest
ment.
ANOTHER CASE.
-There was another case that I'm always
reminded of when see a young man i'm the
street who is a very bright chap, and will be
heard from some day. His father was the
president Of q savings bank somewhere down
east, and somewhere in 1870 took a lot Of
Southern Minnesota seconds at 30. He in
tended To buy them for the bank, but think
ing he had good thing kept them for him
self The panic of 1873 knocked Southern
Minne,otas down TO nothing, and the presi-
dent threw the bonds into a box I'm his library
at his house He was afterward Obliged TO
compromi-e with his creditors and threw I'm .
lot of stuff. among it being, rs he supposed,
the Southern Miunesotas. The whole lot ut
that time would not have brought over 500.
Later this man came TO New York and went
on the street. He made money at first, but
either in the summer OF 1880 or early i'm 1881
he was badly bitten in oil. and was, as he
supposed IA ruined man again. The very
evening that he had made up his mind to ask
the next DAY for an accommodation from his
creditors his boy, who was then about IL,
came to him TO ask if he might have piece
of paper with picturrs on il to paste in his